Suits, Charges
Plague State Technology Vendors

A long list of law suits and even criminal charges have been brought
against many of the best known government technology providers. The
accusations include bribery, computer piracy, improper access by foreign
entities, privacy breaches, inadequate customer service,
questionable business practices, unjust enrichment, stock option
backdating, and foreign ownership.

Hall County,
Nebraska is suing Abacus Business Systems and the company's owners, Will
and Joanne Bennett, for repayment of what the county believes was
over billing for computer services totaling more than $1.7 million.

(July-28-06)
Grand Island Independent

(Free
Registration Required.)

Accurint

Deputies in Texas and Police in Florida Scammed

According to a complaint filed by the U.S. attorney's
office for the Southern District of Florida in Miami. five men ranging
in age from nineteen to twenty four are accused of scamming their
way into databases used by law enforcement.

Affiliated Computer Services Inc.
(ACS)

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Affiliated
Computer Services Inc. Charges against the computer services firm are
related to its stock option practices. The lawsuit was filed in U.S.
District Court in the Northern District of Texas and alleges breaches of
fiduciary duty.

Federal Court found
that Aditya International of India infringed on a copyright held by
Digital Filing Systems of Novi, Michigan. Judge ordered county imaging
software destroyed. Fourteen counties in Texas received cease and desist
orders . . . (Oct-01-05) News for
Public Officials

All Vendors Processing Records Overseas

In 2001, Indian workers at Ohio-based
Heartland Information Services, threatened to release confidential
medical records online unless they received a cash payment from the
company.3 In 2003, a Pakistani medical transcriber, subcontracting with
the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) medical center,
threatened to do the same.4 Neither

Two lawsuits
seeking class action status in regards to how the state allows public
access to drivers' personal information. federal privacy law prohibits
the plaintiffs from suing the state, so the suits were filed against the
companies who are buying the records.

Software
designed by contractor Computer Associates International Inc. -- already
paid more than $6 million by the state -- doesn't work. No one knew it
would fail until 2 1/2 years into the project, said members of the
Indiana Supreme Court's Judicial Technology and Automation Committee,
which is in charge of the project.

Sanjay Kumar
and Stephen Richards, the former chief executive officer and head of
worldwide sales at Computer Associates International Inc. plead guilty
to obstruction of justice. Allegedly lied to representatives of the SEC,
FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office.

Computer
Sciences Corporation (CSC), an information technology and business
services company, agreed to pay $1,370,000 to settle allegations that it
solicited and received improper payments and other things of value on
technology contracts with government agencies...

Diebold
Election Systems
$2.6 million settlement reached with the State of
California. The suit was filed in regards to glitches in the election
voting systems made by Diebold. (Nov-12-04) [INTERNET WEEK]

Diebold
Election Systems

Ohio Secretary
of State Kenneth Blackwell owned shares of the voting-machine
manufacturer. A year earlier he was sued by other manufacturers over
contracts that Diebold was up for.

“Overall, this election was handled in such a way that we
have no reason for confidence in the results,” famed election attorney
Paul Lehto said of California’s 50th Congressional District special
election between Francine Busby and Brian Bilbray.
July-31-06
The Raw Story

Election Systems and Software

Marion County
filed a lawsuit against the Omaha based company alleging faulty ballot
design, uncertified software for tabulating votes, inadequate customer
service, and questionable business practices since the 2003 general
election. ES&S has agreed to pay a service credit of $750,000 cash to the
county election board, another $750,000 to cover the cost of printing kits
for electronic voting machines for the disabled, and it will also reimburse
all legal expenses incurred at $217,000 in cash. (Jul-28-05)
WISH TV

GDXdata

Convergys accuses GDXdata of Denver of misleading them,
which let government records slip overseas placing 100,000
government workers at risk

Seeking
to keep Travis County from using its electronic voting system in upcoming
elections, an Austin civil rights group claims in a lawsuit filed Wednesday
that the system violates state law because it doesn't produce paper ballots.

Former Texas
Supreme Court Justice Steve Smith believes that the final tally does
not include legal votes cast for Smith in Armstrong, Cass, Childress,
Dimmit, Kent, Limestone and Lynn counties. Final tally may include
illegal votes for Willett in Galveston, Gregg, Tarrant and Winkler
counties and does not include legal votes for Smith in Gregg, Tarrant
and Winkler counties.

According to federal
prosecutors, the County Clerk received $60,000 bribe to provide the
county's imaging and database contract. (July-18-06) News for
Public Officials

Oregon
State Pension Board

Approximately
1,900 retired government employees will be asked to repay an average of
nearly $28,000 each because their pension board put too much money into
benefit accounts in 1999. But a class action lawsuit has been filed on
behalf of Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) retirees, claiming
the Oregon state pension board cannot get back money from retirees by
billing them or lowering their monthly payments, citing a 2003 law that
limits it to taking the money from other PERS accounts. If all employees
pay up, the total will amount to $53 million.

Segal Group

The Segal Group, a
New York-based consulting firm the state of Vermont had used to
help it put the health management contract out to bid was blamed for a
breach that published care providers' sensitive information
including Social Security numbers on the State' Website Human Resources
Commissioner Linda McIntire said in an interview that Gov. Jim Douglas
"is furious, and that's an understatement."

At least several hundred, likely more
doctors, psychologists and others were
put at risk of
identity theft.

Sequoia

U.S. states ask questions about
foreign ownership of Oakland-based Sequoia. (June-19-06) Tri-Valley Herald
(Article no longer available on Web)

Tandem Computers, Inc.Agreed to
pay the United States $1.9 million to settle allegations it failed to
tell the government about discounts it offered to commercial customers

Tapes
containing sensitive health and welfare and personal information from
the Canada Employment and Income Assistance ministry have gone missing
from an undisclosed Telus storage facility in Victoria. Poor
record-keeping at the facility, which is run by Telus, means it's
impossible to confirm exactly what happened to the 31 tapes. 'Hundreds
of thousands' of files were on missing tapes.

If you believe this breach could
have exposed you or a family member to identity theft, you can
submit a your claim here.

Tyler
Technologies

City officials
in Ventura, California filed a $1.7 million civil lawsuit against Tyler.
The suit charges that company officials intentionally and negligently
misrepresented their products and services.

According to
the complaint filed in California Superior Court ."Tyler missed every
single deadline and milestone set forth in the contract and was unable
to make even one of the 19 modules operational,"

Tyler
Technologies

Spokane
Regional Health District officials have stopped paying bills from Tyler
Technologies Inc., a firm they are considering suing for selling them a
$200,000 financial software system they say doesn't work.

As many as
38,000 veterans may be at risk of identity theft because a subcontractor
Unisys lost a desktop computer containing their sensitive personal data.
Unisys said the
information includes names, address, medical information, Social
Security numbers and dates of birth of veterans who sought treatment at
VA medical centers.

In an advisory dated
August 8th, 2006, Ken Schrad, Director of Virginia's Division of Information
Resources announced that the State's Bureau of Insurance Website published the
Social Security numbers of every insurance agent licensed in the state. The
personal information of as many as 202,000 agents may have been exposed.